USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 23
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By those who remember him, Gov. Lloyd is spoken of, with unanimity, as a remarkably handsome man, of fine figure and pleasing countenance. He was above the medium height and well developed. His carriage was dignified without a trace of pomposity and graceful without the affectation of the fine manners which were the vogue of the day among people of fashion who took the effusive and demonstrative Frenchman as their model of behavior. His complexion was fair and ruddy, his hair in youth was light but became prematurely grey. His eyes were of deep blue and full of vivacity. His expression of countenance was that of intelligence and frankness-a true index of his character. His voice, pitched in a low tone, a true mark of breeding, was full and sono- rous, and was sometimes, upon convivial occasions attuned in song. His enunciation was clear and distinct. There exists of him a minia- ture taken in his early life. Besides this there is a small portrait in oil by Boardley, painted from recollection, which is said to be very like him in the maturity of his powers. Of this there are several replicas in the possession of members of the family.
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In his domestic relations of husband and father Gov. Lloyd was most happy, as he was most examplary. Marrying the 30th of Nov. 1797, before he had come of age, Sally Scott, the daughter of Dr. James Murray of Annapolis, his infant son, Edward Lloyd (VI) was enabled to participate in celebrating his arrival at his majority by a show of drink- ing to his health. From this marriage came many children, some of whom still survive who cherish his memory as that of a most affectionate and indulgent father, while numerous descendants, in several generations, still bearing the impress of his strong personality, are proud and justly proud of an ancestor so eminent as he was for his talents and services and so admirable for the possession of those traits that best adorn human nature. Mrs. Lloyd long survived him, dying in 1854.64
There must be no omission here of reference to that other domestic relation that subsisted between Gov. Lloyd and his dependents or slaves, of whom he was owner of a great number-more in fact than he had per- sonal knowledge of. Those of them who were of his immediate household, or living upon the Wye House plantation, and therefore in daily contact with him and his family were most devotedly at- tached to him by reason of their experiencing nothing but kindness at his hands. One of the most touching scenes was witnessed when he took his departure from home upon his last journey in pursuit of health. His servants standing upon the banks of Wye, when he embarked bade him good-bye with sobs and groans more expressive than words, and watched with tearful eyes the receding vessel as it bore him away to return no more. His rule over them was mild and considerate, though necessarily rigid for the sake of discipline. His care of them was kindly almost to affectionateness, though cease- lessly watchful as was requisite. Their labors were not excessive. They were comfortably housed, fed and clad. They enjoyed as much freedom of action as comported with the state of servitude in which they lived. In short, slavery of this class of his servants was of the mildest and least objectionable character. Those of his slaves who were remote from his home upon distant plantations, under the care and control of over-
64 The children of Gov. Lloyd were (1) Edward Lloyd sixth of the name. (2) Elizabeth Taylor Lloyd, who married Edward S. Winder, (3) James Murray Lloyd, (4) Sally Scott Lloyd, who married Com. Charles Lowndes of the U. S. Navy, (5) Ann Catherine Lloyd who married Admiral Franklin Buchanan of U. S. Navy, (6) Daniel Lloyd, the father of the present (1885) Governor of Maryland, and (7) Mary Ellen Lloyd, who married William Tilghman Goldsborough, late of Dor- chester county.
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seers, often men of rude natures with whom cruelty and discipline were almost synonymous, may have suffered hardships and ill-treat- ment-doubtless they did in many instances. This was incident to their condition and circumstances, and hence the condemnation which must be placed upon the institution or system that made this possible or even irremediable. But from the known character of their owner there is reason to believe these hardships and this ill-treatment were without his sanction. They were deplorable but inevitable conse- quences of their condition, and may not be justly laid to the charge of a man whose compassionate feelings were even stronger than those of selfishness, and to whom cruelty was as revolting as it was profitless. There was once at Wye House a slave, but not of its master, who has since acquired great notoriety, if it may not be said celebrity. He was the property of Capt. Anthony, the steward or bailiff of Gov. Lloyd, of doubtful parentage, but he afterwards assumed the name of Frederick Douglass. Escaping from bondage, years after, in 1845, he wrote or it was written for him, from materials furnished by himself, a book entitled "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an African Slave," which has done much to originate and perpetuate a belief that barbarities were practised upon the Lloyd estates. He exonerates Gov. Lloyd from complicity in these barbarities and placed them at the doors of his overseers. In his subsequent publications he speaks of him in terms of great admiration bordering upon veneration.65
After years of much acute suffering which the best medical art and the most tender care of an affectionate family could but partially assuage Governor Lloyd finally succumbed during a paroxysm of his disease on the 2nd of June, 1834, at the house of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Murray, in the city of Annapolis, whither he had repaired to place himself under the care of a physician of celebrity, with the ultimate purpose of going to some of the Virginia springs for the benefit of the waters. The announcement of his death at the early age of 54 years, when he should have been most capable of usefulness to his State and
65 This subject of the relation of the Lloyds of Wye, who were representative of the class of slave-holders in Talbot county, to the "peculiar institution" will be treated of more fully in connection with the life of that Edward Lloyd who wit- nessed the overthrow of slavery, who was the greatest sufferer, pecuniarily, of any man in Maryland by the act of emancipation, and who has borne his losses with so great a fortitude and equanimity that they might, if anything could, command our admiration for a system that has bred such virtues in a vindicator or to speak more properly in a victim of its faults.
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Country, was received with unequivocal regret by every citizen of Maryland and with profound sorrow by his family and friends. His body was brought across the bay and interred in the family burial ground at Wye House, where a stone is erected to his memory bearing this simple inscription :
Here lieth interred the remains of Col. Edward Lloyd who was born the 22nd of July 1779 and departed this life the 2nd of June 1834.
After the death of Governor Lloyd the journals of the State gave voice to the general sentiment of regret for his early death, as well as to the general admiration of his private character and public services. The language of high eulogium which was employed by the press was thought to be justly merited, more especially as his best and warmest commendation came from those who differed from him in politics. From such journals the following extracts are taken. The Easton Gazette of June 7th, 1834, said:
Died at Annapolis on Monday last, June 2nd, at the house of his brother-in-law, Henry H. Harwood, Esq.,66 the Hon. Edward Lloyd, of Wye House, in the 55th year of his age. He was an accomplished gentleman who had been called to fill several high stations both under the State and Federal government and was one of the most successful practical agriculturists of his time. The social world will extensively and deeply lament the loss of so distinguished a patron, whose elegant hospitality was so generally and liberally diffused; whilst the generous heart will mingle in condolence with the griefs of a charming family who are sorrowing under the awful bereavement. The remains were conveyed across the bay on the 3rd and were deposited on the 4th in the family sepulchral ground at Wye.
The Baltimore Republican, of the 4th of June, quoting from the Balti- more Patriot, said:
The deceased was a favorite son of his native State-he was elected when very young to the House of Delegates, and successively to all the highest stations under its government. He bore a conspicuous part on all political occasions of extraordinary interest, and was as remarkable
66 This is erroneous. The place of his death is correctly stated above.
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for the munificence of his private hospitality as for his public spirit. There are few whose death will be heard of with more regret by the public and none could be more deeply lamented by those who knew his fine social qualities and personal accomplishments.
The Baltimore American said:
Died at Annapolis on Monday morning in the 55th year of his age the Hon. Edward Lloyd. The various important responsible situations to which the deceased has from time to time been called by his fellow citizens, and which from an early age till within a short period he has filled with distinguished ability, has made his name familiar with his countrymen, and every one sensible of the estimation in which he was held as a public man. He served first as a delegate to the General Assembly from Talbot county, and in succession a member of Congress, Governor of the State, State Senator, presiding officer of that body, and Senator of the United States. Declining health induced him ultimately to relinquish public honors that he might enjoy the endear- ments of his affectionate family. Alas! how brief and unstable is the tenure of all that earth can give to mortals. In the various private and domestic relations of life Col. Lloyd so discharged the duties of his station as to gather around him and to bind in the bonds of social affection a large circle of friends and admirers, and in public, the esti- mation placed by the people upon his services is best evinced by the frequent calls made upon him to fill the most elevated dignities. From his sound and discriminating mind and from his long acquaintance with public affairs, he has possessed a great and leading influence in the councils of the State.
EDWARD LLOYD (VI) THE FARMER
1798-1861
When Edward Lloyd the fifth of the name, who was commonly called Governor, arrived at his majority, the happy event was suitably celebrated at Wye House by a convivial assemblage of relatives and friends, who in the midst of their hilarity, after dinner, called for the infant heir to the name and estate, Edward Lloyd (VI) Jr., who was brought to the table and made to go through the form of drink- ing his father's health. He was then more than one year old, hav- ing been born at Annapolis, Dec. 27th, 1798. He was the eldest son of a large family of children, all of whom at this date (Oct. 1885) are dead with a single exception, the widow of Admiral Buch- anan, who, in a serene and beautiful old age, still represents the high
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born graces of the family and the sterling virtues of her distinguished father. Young Lloyd grew up in the seclusion of his home, with no other companions than his own brothers and sisters, or, as unsophisti- cated youth knows few distinctions, the young negroes upon the planta- tion. His early education was at the hand of Mr. Joel Page a private tutor in the family, who long continued to be an honored and beloved inmate of Wye House, and who, there ending his days under painful circumstances, being distracted in mind, was interred in the ancestral burial ground where a stone is erected to his memory, consecrated by the affection of more than one generation of the Lloyds. As all his an- cestors had been farmers or planters, young Lloyd seems to have been predestined to the avocation of a tiller of the soil. Under the erroneous impression that the agriculturist is not benefited by higher education, or rather condemning, as he justly might do, the sciolism or pedantry of the college bred men of his day, his father neglected to give him the advantages of even that poor training and culture which could be ob- tained in the superior schools of the time. Young Lloyd did, however, feel some inclination to prepare himself for a professional life, and actual- ly began his studies in the city of Philadelphia; but these, being inter- rupted by a severe attack of illness, were never renewed. It would have been no waste of time, money and labor, if he had taken courses of instruction in law, medicine and divinity, as preparatory to the avocation to which hereditary custom had destined him; for the learning of each of these would have been of value to the great planter who was required by the circumstances of his position as slave holder to perform the functions of jurist, doctor and priest upon his domain and among his dependents. While Mr. Lloyd missed those refined and delightful pleasures which flow from the cultivation of polite letters and the pur- suits of science, he was not without compensation in his escape from their enervating influences, for while acquiring the elements of a good sound education in English letters and the principles of such knowledge as can be made applicable to the common practical affairs of life, the most masculine forces of his mind and traits of character were free to develop in all their healthy vigor and natural nobility. In short his education, falling in with his inclinations or aptitudes and circumstances, made him not the scholar weighed down with "wise saws and modern instances"-dreamy, speculative, hesitating, timid from very excess of knowledge-but the thoroughly equipped man of affairs, courageous, ready, full of resources, capable of reading life's lessons of wisdom written in its most obscure dialect, of solving life's problems involved to the last
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degree of intricacy, unraveling life's syllogisms in her most entangled "logic of events," and reducing in the crucible and alembic of experience the most refractory of life's materials. There is other learning than that taught in the schools, however high, and this Ed. Lloyd acquired in the school of experience.
Arriving earlier than usual at a period in life, when the vacant pleas- ures of youth cease to satify the mind and occupy the hours, be became desirous of serious and profitable employment and so, at his request, he was placed in charge of a large plantation of his father's. Marrying soon after, his father built for him the beautiful house at Wye Heights now occupied by David C. Trimble, Esq., and there he settled down to the serious work of life which was never pretermitted until life's close. There he continued to reside until the death of Gov. Lloyd, when he removed to Wye House, and Wye Heights became the home of Danied Lloyd, Esq., his brother. There, too, he may be said to have served his apprenticeship under that most able master in geoponics,- his father. In the conduct of this and other large tracts he displayed those qualities, and later acquired those habits which characterized him as the greatest farmer of the State of Maryland. Reared in affluence he became frugal; growing up in ease and idleness he became laborious and industrious; accustomed to every pleasure which wealth could pur- chase or parental partiality bestow he became abstinent from or moder- ate in the indulgence of the customary enjoyments of youthful life, and to the greatest freedom of action, he became circumspect, self- restrained as regards his own conduct, and masterful of the conduct of those subject to his control-that is to say, as he was able to govern himself so he was able to govern others. In this apprenticeship at Wye Heights he acquired that training which qualified him to manage in after life, with wonderful skill the larger estate of both land and slaves that fell under his care at the death of his father or that he acquired by his own economy, prudence or acuteness.
Without being too precise in its definition, it may be well enough to note that the period embraced within the experience of Col. Edward Lloyd (VI) the typical farmer of this section of Maryland, was pretty distinctly marked off in the industrial history of Talbot county. It extended from the time when the agricultural revolutionfrom tobacco culture to grain growing-from planting properly so called to farming- had been fully completed; through the years of a rude and wasteful husbandry when the rearing of the cereals received the almost exclusive attention of our farmers; down to the beginning of that great epoch,
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which is marked in our industrial history by the introduction of improved machinery, the use of artificial fertilizers, but more distinctly still by the change of our system of labor. When Edward Lloyd, Jr., com- menced his farming operations the rearing for market of tobacco, once the great staple and indeed currency of the province and State, after a gradual decline of more than fifty years, had wholly ceased. It had merely a survival to use the phraseology of the sociologists of this day, in the small patches of the negroes, who planted a little for their own uses. The adaptation of the soil of Talbot to the growth of grain, its presumed want of adaptation to the rearing of cattle, the proximity of the county to the first flour market of America or perhaps in the world coupled with the facilities of each farmer for the shipment of his products from his own door, probably a growing perception of the impoverish- ment of his lands, had expelled the "sot werd" (its "factors" had long since gone) from the fields and barns, caused the warehouses for its storage to go to decay, and deprived the inspectors of their vocation. Edward Lloyd, Junior, long so called, became a great grain grower, and labored successfully, when so many failed, through the long and weary years of agricultural depression, extending from about 1820 to his death in 1861-years when the rewards of farm industry were so small and the wants of a growing civilization were so disproportionately great-years when poverty seemed to be the lot of the small farmer, and debt that of the large-years, too, when, in the midst of social and political unrest all seemed to be so dazed and blinded as to be incapable of seeing the cause why their fertile fields yielded but the crops of sterility and their labor and economy were paid with the wages of sloth and wastefulness. During this period the value of lands in Talbot County declined, and population diminished or was stationary.67 It is much to the credit of Edward Lloyd the farmer, that under these depressing circumstances, -for it must be borne in mind that he was affected as sensibly by them as others were, if not more seriously-he was able to maintain the an- cient repute of the family for wealth, when it seemed upon the verge of destruction, to disburden his estate of a heavy debt left charged upon it by his father, to aid his brothers when involved in pecuniary difficulties, and even to add largely to his wealth both in land and slaves.
The farming of Col. Lloyd was conducted on a great scale, for he cul-
67 From 1820 to 1860, according to the United States census, the population of Talbot increased in 40 years but 406 persons. From 1820 to 1840, in 20 years, it diminished 1,299 persons. From 1860 to 1880, in 20 years, it increased 3,630 persons.
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tivated thousands of acres, and with a method which was as admirable as it was necessary for success. The system of tenantry, the occupant paying a proportion of the products, called by the French agrinomists, the systeme metayer, which prevailed in this county, had not his approval as being entirely too favorable to the land renters, and often disastrous to the land owners; but while his estate was divided into many sepa- rate farms, each independent of the other, he kept the whole under his mediate or immediate direction and supervision. Each farm had its overseer, a white man, with its own gang of slaves, while the whole of them was under a bailiff or steward, who reported to him as master and chief. But he was not content with this, for he was unremitting in his personal attention, visiting each daily, if possible, giving general direc- tions as to its tillage and management, looking after the welfare of his slaves, administering to their wants, or ordering punishment for offences against discipline. This involved much personal labor, for the accom- plishment of which he was early in his saddle. Whether guests were in his house or not he made his rounds in company with his steward and returned to dine with his family in the afternoon. The remainder of the day was given to social enjoyment, or attention to such business as should be discharged in his office. He was of the class of gentlemen farmers-a class which it has been and still is the privilege and profit of this county to possess, giving dignity to an avocation too commonly thought to be suggestive of rudeness and rusticity only, refining the man- ners of our people prone to become agrestic, and maintaining a standard of honor in our social as well as business life-but he was a gentleman farmer, not in the sense of being one who amused himself with rural occupations as a pastime, and evaded the labors, responsibilities and annoyances of the husbandman, but in the sense of being one, who, not laboring with his hands upon his estate, was nevertheless assiduous in his attention to his business, careful in directing its greater or more important operations, giving personal attention to the condition of his dependents, looking closely after his own personal interests, yet finding time or taking it, for the cultivation of those amenities and graces which give to life its greatest charm, and for indulgence in those pleasures, without which "weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, seem all the uses of this world." He was eminently a practical farmer, not given to trying experiments, yet not following old methods for the sake of consistency; having no agronomic theories to establish, but observing close that he might form rules for his own guidance. Not contemning the laws of good husbandry which the experience of others or of himself had shown
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to be of value, he was suspicious of novelties, however highly recom- mended, knowing that in farming there is learned ignorance and that charlatanry has there as ample a field for its deceptions as in any other department of human effort. He did not believe there was any cryptic husbandry by which his broad acres could be converted at once into Hesperidean gardens, producing golden fruit, nor that there existed any bucolic catholicon to lard the lean ribs of half-fed cattle. Scientific farming, so-called, with its analyses of soils and their products, with its test tubes and scales, its alembics and retorts, with its ammonias, its phosphates and its potash salts, was looked at askance; not as denying, but as doubting, not as condemning, but as suspecting. Slow to change his method of culture, hesitating to accept innovations upon established usages, suspicious of new- fangled implements which the ingenuity of the North and West was inventing under the stimulus of labor scarcity, and was pressing on the attention of the less crafty South-crafty in the old and honor- able sense-where the like necessity for such devices did not exist, in the same degree, at least, the whole economy of his farms was decidedly conservative, as it is best all farming should be. If success be the meas- ure of skill in any calling, certainly Colonel Lloyd deserved to be re- garded as one of the best farmers of Maryland; for his wealth increased while that of others diminished-he prospered while others in like circumstances failed, falling into embarrassments and poverty. And this success was won, not by happy good luck in outside and hazardous ventures, but by his ability and diligence in his own legitimate business.
A few words with reference to Colonel Lloyd's management of his numerous slaves may with propriety supplement this account of his farming. Slavery on his estate differed from the slavery that existed almost everywhere else in the county, in this, that it was plantation rather than domestic slavery, to use terms of differentiation that here need not be explained. Owing to the great extent of that estate and the great number of slaves upon it, it was necessary to divide them by plac- ing gangs or groups made up mostly of families upon each farm. These gangs were under overseers, and lived in quarters, a kind of barracks, or where there were families in separate cabins. The greater portion of those thus situated seldom came in communication with their master or his family, indeed many of them were as unknown to him as he was to them. There was therefore small opportunity for him to become acquainted with their grievances or unusual wants, and an impression became current that these grievances were unredressed and those wants
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